Police union defends officers who cited Christian evangelist for religious speech at Texas LGBT event
A Texas police union says it "unequivocally" stands behind the officers involved in a now-viral video of clashes with a group of Christian evangelists.
The city of Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD) launched a review of the incident captured on video at the Trinity Pride Fest in downtown Fort Worth on June 27, where a female FWPD officer, identified by multiple outlets as Sarah Stogner, threatened to arrest two members of a street preaching team during the public event.
In one widely circulated video, Stogner told street preachers Rich Penkoski and David Grisham, "If someone is offended by your talking, then we have a problem." When pressed further, she threatened to issue a citation if someone was offended by their speech. "You're going to ticket us for offensive speech?" one of the men asked.
In a separate video, an officer was asked whether using the correct gender for a trans-identified person at the event could be considered offensive speech; she responded, "We're talking gray area right now ... I don't believe I would cite that for offensive language."
According to the video, police blocked Penkoski and Grisham from accessing the sidewalk upon their arrival at the event. Grisham was ultimately issued a citation for “unreasonable noise,” an ordinance with the city's website states is “intended to apply to, but is not limited to” noise linked to animals or construction work.
FWPD has maintained that the citation stemmed from Grisham's use of an amplification device, not the content of his speech, saying nearby business owners had complained that the noise was disrupting their operations.
Two weeks ago, Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie Garcia said the department was "wrong" when its officers threatened to cite preachers for disorderly conduct based on complaints that their speech offended attendees of the city's annual Trinity Pride Fest event.
In an interview with ABC News affiliate WFAA, Garcia said he was primarily concerned with how officers explained “what is lawful” when it comes to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Garcia pledged to roll out in-person First Amendment training for the entire Fort Worth Police Department to better equip command staff, supervisors and officers for such confrontations. “We are not a perfect profession, and my officers will make mistakes from time to time,” he said. “We’re going to learn from it and get better from it and to ensure these things don’t happen again.”
On July 23, the Fort Worth Police Officers’ Association (FWPOA) released a statement defending the actions of FWPD officers involved in the incident.
The statement read in part: “The Fort Worth Police Officers' Association unequivocally stands behind the officers involved. ... The officers in question were responding to an emotionally charged situation involving complex First Amendment and private property concerns without clear direction or policy from the Fort Worth Police Department or the City of Fort Worth.”
After warning that FWPD “failed these officers by placing them in an untenable enforcement situation without current training and guidance,” the FWPOA called for “immediate, department-wide training and updated policies” as well as the release of all body camera footage from the officers involved in the incident.
The statement added, “Public opinion should never be shaped by an edited bystander video that captures only a fragment of an encounter and lacks the full context of the events leading up to and surrounding the incident. The complete body-worn camera recordings are vital to providing an accurate and objective account of what occurred that day.”
While the FWPOA acknowledged “First Amendment and private property rights are cornerstones of our Constitution and deserve vigilant protection,” the union also appeared to blame FWPD for failing to provide “clear policies, sound training, and responsible leadership from city officials and department administrators.”
The FWPOA also downplayed the backlash to the viral video, adding, “Unfortunately, the public condemnation, personal attacks, and threats directed at the involved officers have been grossly disproportionate to the circumstances of this incident. Before reaching conclusions, the public deserves access to all available evidence, not isolated clips or edited recordings that may not present the complete picture of what occurred.”
Since going viral, the incident has drawn national attention, culminating in a formal letter from the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division raising concerns about a potential pattern of viewpoint discrimination.
On July 13, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon sent a letter to Fort Worth City Attorney Leann D. Guzman outlining potential pattern-or-practice concerns. The letter acknowledged video footage apparently showing “FWPD officers instructing individuals to cease their speech or move the location of their speech based on the content of the speakers’ expression.”
The letter, which warned such practices would “raise significant concerns under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and federal civil rights law,” also referenced a prior 2015 consent decree in which the city agreed not to interfere with protected expression and requests extensive documentation within 30 days, including current First Amendment policies, training materials, complaint records since 2015, and enforcement records related to the consent decree.
